Archive for April, 2014

The Kokoda Trail or Track is a single-file foot thoroughfare that runs 96 kilometers overland — 60 kilometers in a straight line — through the Owen Stanley Range in Papua New Guinea. The track is the most famous in Papua New Guinea and is known for being the location of the World War II battle between Japanese and Australian forces in 1942.

The track starts, or ends, at Owers Corner in Central Province, 50 kilometres (31 mi) east of Port Moresby, and then crosses rugged and isolated terrain, which is only passable on foot, to the village of Kokoda in Oro Province. It reaches a height of 2,190 metres (7,185 ft) as it passes around the peak of Mount Bellamy.[1] The track travels primarily through the land of the Mountain Koiari people.

Hot, humid days with intensely cold nights, torrential rainfall and the risk of endemic tropical diseases such as malaria make it a challenge to walk. Despite the challenge posed it is a popular hike that takes between four and twelve days (depending on fitness). Locals have been known to hike the route in one to three days.

The native word for the fruit of the highlanders in Papua New Guinea call it Marata fruit. and make a red sauce out of it which is called marita sauce. Marita sauce is a ketchup-like substance which is used to flavor food.

We tried it. It is indeed ketchup-like substance. Does not have much taste. Needs to add salt and spices to make it more tasty.

This occurred back in January at one of our construction site, just outside Port Moresby (PNG). It took the snake, a python I believe, more than 5 hours to complete the task.

You will notice signs were put up to make sure he would not be disturbed. We do not kill snakes when we find them. We normally catch them and release them back into the nature. We have a snake catcher on site to accomplish this task. To date he caught 5 or 6 of them.

Last week I almost stepped on a Black Papuan without even noticing it. A colleague walking behind me saw it running away and disappearing in the grass. Black Papuan is one of the most dangerous snakes in the world. The good news is that these snakes rarely attack you. They normally run away, except if they get cornered and have no way to escape.